Arrest Made in Cold Case Murders of Two Women on Long Island

Homicide detectives made an arrest Monday in the cold case murders of two women found dead in Suffolk County in the 1990s.

John Bittrolff, 48 years old, of Manorville was arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the women’s murders.

He was expected to be arraigned Tuesday at First District Court in Central Islip.

The two murders have been unsolved for more than two decades. Rita Tangredi, 31, was discovered nude, beaten and strangled in a wooded area off of Esplanade Drive in East Patchogue on Nov. 2, 1993.

Then on Jan. 30, 1994, the body of Colleen McNamee, 20, was found dead in woods near Express Drive South in Shirley. Like Ms. Tangredi, Ms. McNamee was nude, beaten and strangled.

The Suffolk County Police Department said in a news release that DNA evidence collected at the crime scenes linked to the cases. Homicide squad detectives recovered DNA evidence in 2014 that linked Mr. Bittrolff to the cases, the release said. More information was expected to be released at a news conference Tuesday.

Anyone with information about these individuals was asked to call the Homicide Squad at 631-852-6392 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.